Claire Baum

Biography

As of this year, I will be a senior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign pursuing a major in physics and a minor in mathematics. Since my freshman year, I have been involved in the Society of Physics Students (SPS), the Society for Women in Physics (SWIP), research on the Muon g-2 and CDF experiments at Fermilab, and have recently become involved in research for the Any Light Particle Search (ALPS) experiment at DESY. Outside of physics, I have dipped into some other fun activities such as archery, swing dancing, and being a DJ! In 2014, I helped plan the SPS Zone 8 Meeting at my university and became an unofficial officer of our SPS chapter midway through the year. As all of our officers were already decided during the previous year, I was quickly dubbed the SPS “snack officer” (even though I do more than provide delicious snacks!). This year, I will be president of SWIP and remain on the board for SPS. In years to come beyond my undergraduate degree, I would love to pursue a PhD somewhere within the realm of optical physics, travel the world, and maybe become a crazy inventor at some point!